Three dozen relief agencies working in Yemen have appealed to the warring sides to maintain the two-month ceasefire which expires on Wednesday night.
Oxfam’s Yemen director Ferran Puig said the pause in fighting has created a “long overdue sense of hope that we can break the cycle of violence and suffering in Yemen”.
He urged the parties to seize the opportunity “to extend the truce and push for a lasting peace if we are to avert the risk of millions of Yemenis being forced into acute hunger”.
Efforts by UN envoy Hans Grundberg to renew the truce and resume negotiations have not been fruitful although aerial bombing and ground operations have been reduced and confidence-building measures have been implemented.
The Saudis have allowed fuel deliveries from blockaded Hodeida port to Houthi-held areas and permitted flights carrying 1,077 passengers between Houthi-controlled Sanaa’s airport and Amman and, from Wednesday, Cairo. The Houthis have halted cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Emirates but have not lifted the siege of government forces at Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city.
The UN has warned that 23.4 million of the 30 million Yemenis face hunger this year, including 160,000 who could suffer from “famine-like conditions”. The UN also estimates that as of the end of last year, 377,000 Yemenis have died due to the war which has precipitated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
While the conflict in Ukraine has sent global fuel and grain prices soaring, UN agencies have received from donors less than one-third of the $4.3 billion required to meet Yemen’s existential needs for this year. An importer of 90 per cent of its food, Yemen relies on Ukraine for 42 per cent of its wheat. Bread is the staple food for all Yemeni families, rich or poor.
The country-wide truce, the first in six years, began on April 2nd during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when warfare is meant to cease.
Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Emirates intervened militarily in Yemen in March 2015 to restore to power president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was elected interim president in an uncontested poll following the resignation of president Ali Abdullah Saleh during Yemen’s 2011 uprising. Mr Hadi was driven into exile by Shia Houthi tribesmen who accused him of marginalising them politically and denying them their share in oil revenues.
The US, Britain and France have armed and provided logistical support to the Saudis and Emiratis while Shia Iran has given political backing and limited weaponry to the Houthis.
At the start of the ceasefire, Mr Hadi transferred authority to a Saudi-sponsored leadership council which is meant to take part in UN-brokered negotiations with the Houthis if and when talks resume.
